2007 State Conference Awards Session Welcome Address
by Daniel L. Auger, Jr., State President
Good Morning, on behalf of the state executive council, it is both an honor and a privilege for me to welcome you to our Awards Session.
Today we celebrate the 33rd Anniversary of Preparing World–Class Workers and Responsible American Citizens as we recognize excellence.
Let me be the first to congratulate each of you for your time and efforts, which have made this conference a success.
Take a look back on the effort it took to prepare for this conference. There were many hours spent practicing for a contest, if you were a contestant.
Completing the final touches of a speech, if you were a candidate, preparing for the business meeting, if you were a delegate and if you were an advisor … we can only imagine the hours spent making sure each of your students were prepared.
This conference is an important experience in our lives as career and technical education students; because it is here that we meet challenges, satisfy the will to succeed and experience our time to shine.
Standing before you as the presiding officer of this awards session is an opportunity that I have worked long and hard for.
You might say that this is the realization of my dream and it represents my moment to shine.
It is particularly fitting that I am realizing my dream this morning because our awards session has traditionally been about the realization of dreams and celebrating success.
Over the past few days, together we have put on a most impressive display of talent and skill, which holds our nation’s hope for the future and defines our success as individuals.
As your State President, I have had the opportunity to learn what it is like to portray the different definitions of the word leader among my peers.
I’ve been a telling leader, a persuading leader, a consulting leader, a joining leader, and even a delegating leader some of the time.
There have been times where I have succeeded and others times when I felt I have failed. Instead of being somebody leaving a path I was only following others.
One of the most important things I have learned while attempting to figure out what kind of a leader I truly wanted to be was that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
That single step was what I was in need of.
As with anything there are times when we get used to the way things are. 2006 was that year. I was comfortable with high school and a repetitious mind–set day after day began to get comfortable for me.
Those of us competing yesterday are passionate about what we do in our trades. Part of becoming comfortable had also developed in my trade. Every day I would go to school and get consumed in my work.
I was obsessed with color, movement, sound, design, photos, flashbulbs, innovation, creation, and the newest and most current trends. It was all about perfection, every image, every style, every design.
I would study beautiful models and their perfect skin and flawless expensive clothing in photographs.
I would watch advertisements on television and study them on billboards, expensive, sophisticated, and modern luxuries that everybody was after.
Reality television shows being promoted, new exquisite foods and jewelry and only the most charming and persuasive ads out there to sell all of it.
I became wrapped up in that world of persuasive perfection and design and strived for it in all of my work.
I became comfortable with what society paid attention to and the standards of what was only socially acceptable.
What I realized is that after we get into that comfortable state we try to avoid change. After some time of avoiding it we not only try to stride clear of it but we develop a fear of it and this was the case for me.
I mastered this kind of design, and this kind of mental lifestyle it was about popularity and flashy looks.
Subconsciously I was so afraid of something different that it kept me from doing anything, it kept me from moving forward.
Shortly after my election as an officer, I happened to be flipping through channels decided to watch the evening news instead of MTV.
It was then the realization that there are things far more important than fear that woke me up.
For the first time, I stumbled away from the things that were standard for me and wandered down a path of self–education.
After serving as an officer for only a few months instead of spending hours watching American Idol I was spending hours researching the humanitarian crisis across the world.
Instead of going to MacDonald’s and ordering a triple whopper I was pursuing a gym membership in hopes of avoiding becoming a part of the national obesity epidemic.
I chose to raise money towards medicines for aids in Africa and the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism rather than spending it on clothes at American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch.
I chose rather than wearing “ice” around my neck to learn about the effects of conflict diamonds in foreign countries and how from buying these diamonds funding was provided for civil wars.
I chose rather to learn about the benefits of stem cell research, the threats of global warming, and the national genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
This tragedy has killed 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million from their homes into refuge camps where children are starving and dying to a lack of medicines … and as a leader in SkillsUSA I have learned to care about these facts.
Through SkillsUSA, I have chosen a path of self-awareness. And I know that my rewards will come from taking control, rather than simply letting things happen to me.
Fear is what makes us prisoners. We only become happy when we aren’t being controlled by fear.
Just realizing we are not letting our fear stop us, and knowing we have taken a new direction, nourishes us and gives us strength.
I realized that what we are afraid of is never as bad as what we imagine. The fear we let build up in our minds is worse than the situation that actually exists.
Most importantly that it is safer to search in the maze of the life and take risks rather than remain in a hopeless stand still where there is no room for development and growth.
It is by being at today’s awards session that you have chosen to search in the maze and take a risk. A risk of failing indeed, but weather a medallion is won or not, growth and development has most defiantly taken place.
SkillsUSA is about leaving the city our comfort and going into the wilderness our intuition.
We have to find our own way, beyond our comforts and past our fears. No one else could do it for me, or talk me into it. I somehow had to see the advantage of changing for myself.
And after experiencing every side of what a leader can be I have chosen to be this sort of a leader. One who learns, one who sees hope in the American way of life, and one who upholds high moral and spiritual standards.
Olympic gold medalist, Mary Lou Retton has been quoted as saying,
“As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can; by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we have been given.”
Being the best person we can be also calls upon each one of us to be informed, responsible participants in each community we belong to; it often begins with family and friends, radiates further to include ones school, town, state, and eventually the country and the world.
It calls upon us to encourage others to do the same; and if we learn that they cannot or do not, to act and advocate on their behalf.
Not unlike membership in SkillsUSA, to engage in a knowledgeable life, a person must, on a foundation of morals and values, commit to uphold and achieve the basic ideals and principles of an American constitutional democracy.
… and then, to act.
Fellow SkillsUSA members, this year I have developed visions. I have done that by reaching out past my fear of change and failure just like every one of you today.
Whether or not I may experience temporary setbacks I know that the idea of having the courage to move forward is far more important.
Joel A. Barker once said, “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”
I strongly believe that our vision combined with our fearless actions can change the world, one step at a time. Let us work together to make that change.
One voice can not move mountains but I know that with the effort of many, with the effort of the future of our country, which includes every member here today, it is my belief that there is no dream too big, no obstacle insurmountable!
Today’s conversation is only the beginning. Let’s keep the conversation going, and growing, and moving forward.
I wish you the best in everything that you do, and keep in your mind that what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matter compared to what lies within us.
Thank you.
